Woman unwittingly tweets husband's fatal car crash

As she waited for him to come home Wednesday, a woman known for tweeting about local traffic in Vancouver, Wash., shared details and then her own panic about a fatal car crash that killed her husband, according to multiple reports.

Update

"Beware," a story by KATU, a Vancouver, Wash., TV station, began. "This is one of the most heartbreaking things you'll ever see."

By Wednesday night, the story dominated The Columbian's website and it was the most popular on Gawker. On Jezebel the story was headlined, "Your evening sob." The post on that site began, "If you're not prepared to be heartbroken, don't read the following."

But read it, they did. And people the world over were so touched that many reached out to the woman with words of comfort.

Sure, some readers suggested that following a rash of recent Twitter hoaxes, this, too, might not be real. Others found themselves in tears, though. And a string of hundreds and hundreds of people messaged the woman, Caran Johnson, known as @ScanCouver on Twitter, saying she was in their thoughts and prayers.

The woman continued tweeting as the comments came in, thanking people for their thoughts and then noting how her Twitter following had more than doubled. Here are some of her tweets and some of the messages that were directed at her.

'It's him. He died.'

Emergency responders are on the way to a 2-car collision on I-205 SB near 83rd Street. Move over for them and give them some room. #VanWa